{"product_id":"inside-jokes-matthew-m-hurley-9780262518697","title":"Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind","description":"\u003cb\u003eThis evolutionary and cognitive theory of humor seeks to reveal the complex science behind why we crack up. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A sophisticated analysis . . . written with clarity, good cheer, and, of course, wit.\" ―\u003cb\u003eSteven Pinker\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eHow The Mind Works\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Some things are funny--jokes, puns, sitcoms, Charlie Chaplin, \u003ci\u003eThe Far Side\u003c\/i\u003e, Malvolio with his yellow garters crossed--but why? Why does humor exist in the first place? Why do we spend so much of our time passing on amusing anecdotes, making wisecracks, watching \u003ci\u003eThe Simpsons\u003c\/i\u003e? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eInside Jokes\u003c\/i\u003e, Matthew Hurley, Daniel Dennett, and Reginald Adams offer an evolutionary and cognitive perspective. Humor, they propose, evolved out of a computational problem that arose when our long-ago ancestors were furnished with open-ended thinking. Mother Nature--aka natural selection--cannot just order the brain to find and fix all our time-pressured misleaps and near-misses. She has to bribe the brain with pleasure. So we find them funny. This wired-in source of pleasure has been tickled relentlessly by humorists over the centuries, and we have become addicted to the endogenous mind candy that is humor.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Matthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett, Reginald B. Adams\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262518694\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262518697\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/08\/2013\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 374\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.07lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.64h x 5.81w x 0.76d","brand":"Matthew M. Hurley","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44410362724607,"sku":"9780262518697","price":40.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_9263b545-a321-4bc6-971b-accd13d223c1.jpg?v=1697535961","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/inside-jokes-matthew-m-hurley-9780262518697","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}